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Salient. Official Newspaper of the Victoria University Students' Association. Vol 42 No. 21. September 3 1979

Policy Propagates Prejudice

page 7

Policy Propagates Prejudice

22 Years After Merdeka. An Appraisal of the Racial Problem in Malaysia.

Malaysia is a multi-racial country comprising three main races. During the British colonial period, racial animosity between races was being deliberately created by the 'divide and rule' policy of the British colonialists to facilitate and sustain its rule over this rich country. Now, as Malaysia is going to celebrate her twenty second year of nationhood since her independence from the British in 1957, one should pause to examine whether the nation building policy of the post-colonial government's is a success or failure and whether Malaysia has become a more united nation or more divided. While national unity certainly cannot be achieved within a generation, an appraisal of the achievements of the racial policy of previous and present governments would give an indication of the future development of the racial problem in this country.

Racial Policy from Merdeka (1957) to the May 13 Racial Riot Incident (1969).

"National Unity" has always been the slogan of the immediate Dost-independence government i.e. the alliance government. The government identified poverty as the major cause of the racial disharmony. In this light, a series of economic development plans (five year plan) were launched with 'national unity' always the declared objective of each and every one of these plans. Through the implementation of these plans, the government intended to eradicate poverty amongst the deprived groups, especially Malays.

'Special Rights' were granted to the Malays to assist this ethnic group in participating in commerce, industry, education and other sectors. However, all the efforts of the Alliance Government failed to improve the economic status of the majority of the Malays. According to the Government's statistics from the period 1957-1970, the poorest 40% of the population (most of them were Malays) had actually become poorer. The incomes of the poorest 20% had fallen by 14% while those of the next poorest 20% had fallen by 3%.

The discontent and frustration of the Malays were made use of by the Malay bureaucratic class to turn their hatred towards the Chinese. The ethnic Chinese which controlled 22.5% of the share capital of limited companies in Peninsular Malaya in 1970, were accused of being the main exploiter and enemy of the Malays. The myth of the Chinese domination of the country's economy, propagated by the past British colonialists was continued—adopted by the ruling Malay politicians for their own personal gains. This view prevailed even though it was foreigners, especially the British which controlled the largest share of the cake, 63% of the share capital during the same year in 1970.

The immediate spark that led to the explosion of Malay anger was the 1969 general election. The May 13 Racial Riot Incident had led to the death of several hundred people of all races. This riot marked the failure on the government's part to ameliorate the racial tension among all races, which became a highly explosive issue when being manipulated by some unscrupulous group.

Racial Policy after the May 13 Incident.

In the aftermath of the May 13 Incident, the Malaysian government, under the Alliance Party, enunciated the New Economic Policy in 1971 as the foundation for the creation of a just and racial harmonious society. Not surprisingly, "National Unity" was again the overriding objective of NEP. The twin objectives of this policy are:
(a)eradicating poverty among all Malaysian, irrespective of race;
(b)restructuring Malaysian society to correct racial economic imbalance.

The NEP will be based on "the principle of the expanding cake" whereby the deprived groups are to be systematically lifted without detriment to the others.

Since its announcement, the NEP has become the foundation of the government's subsequent policies for achieving "national unity" in the next two decades. Today, a decade has nearly passed since its enunciation. At this point, one would certainly be interested in finding out how effective the NEP is in solving the racial problem. The following is an analysis of some of the consequences of the implementation of NEP.

1. On Education Opportunity

Since the implementation of the NEP, there has been a drastic dimunition of higher education opportunities for the non- Malay students in Malaysia.

According to a report, the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dr Mahatir Mohamad, in answering questions raised by an opposition party member in parliament, revealed that in 1977, the total number of applications for places in the five domestic universities was 29,998, out of which only 5,953 were accepted. Among the students accepted, 4,457 (74.9%) were Malays, and 1,187 (19.9%) Chinese; 266 (45%) Indians and 43 (0.7%) others (compared with 39.7%:49.2%:7.3% for the Malays, Chinese and Indians respectively in 1970 before implementation of NEP.) Apparently, the intakes of students into tertiary institutions have failed to reflect the country's racial composition. (According to 1970's population census, the percentage composition of the three races were Malays 46.8%, Chinese 34.1%, and Indian 9%.)

Photo of Malaysian workers

The deliberate policy of the government to suppress the development of the Chinese language schools and to thwart efforts to set up a Chinese-language University (Merdeka University) has caused a sense of educational insecurity within the Chinese community. This further led to frustration, discontentment and alienation among them.

To pacify the widespread dissatisfaction among the non-Malays, the Education Minister, Musa Hitam, has announced recently to increase the intake of the non- Malay students by 2%. Even this meagre increase has caused an uproar and protest from the extremist Malay groups, especially the UMNO.

2. Employment Opportunities

At the completion of first phase of NEP i.e. the Second Malaysian Plan (1971-1975) the unemployment rate is estimated to have fallen from 8.1% in 1970 to 6.9% in 1975 for the Malays; increased from 7.0% to 7.2% for the Chinese and increased from 11.0% to 12.2% for the Indians. Apparently, the increase in unemployment rate for the Chinese and Indians has no other reasons except manipulation by the government. This is another injustice of NEP.

One instance of the dissatisfaction of the non-Malays towards the racist policy of the government is reflected in the recent mass emigration of Malaysian professionals abroad.

3. Commerce and Industry

The NEP seeks to increase the Malay ownership of all share capital from 2.4% in 1970 to at least 30% by 1990; non- Bumiputra from 34.3% to 40% and to reduce foreign interests from 63.3% in 1970 to 30% by 1990.

According to the Third Malaysia Plan (1976-1980), the average annual growth rate of Bumiputra ownership during 1971-75 was 43.6%, Chinese merely 13.7% and Indians, 16.3%. This sufficiently illustrates the intensity of the government's effort to help the Malays.

In 1975, the Industrial Co-ordination Act was introduced by the government. This Act stipulates that every manufacturing company having a share-holder's fund of more than $250,000 (later amended to $500,000) or employing more than 25 fulltime workers shall apply for a manufacturing license, and that 30% for its equity share should be offered to Malays.

Under this Act, the medium-size businesses especially those owned by the Chinese have borne the brunt of restrictions over issue and terms of licenses.

Who Benefits from NEP?

The NEP has classified the three races of Malaysia into Bumiputra (Sons of Soil) and non-Bumiputra. In its implementation, the government has always highlighted the Bumiputra interests. Despite repealed assurance from the government that in the implementation of NEP, "no group would feel a sense of loss or feel being deprived", non-Bumiputra still feel a sense of loss and deprived in view of their diminishing opportunities in education, employment and promotion, commerce and industry etc.

At this point, one should take a close view to find out which are the sectors or groups of Malay which have benefited most from NEP.

"'Tengku Tengku, Tan Sri Tan Sri, Datuk Datuk itu Bumiputra, kami Melayu bukam Bumiputra."

The above is a popular quotation among the poor Malays. It ridicules the efforts of the government to help Malays, which have only benefitted a handful of rich Malays and not the poverty stricken Malay masses. This is because only the rich Malays from the middle and upper classes (eg. from the aristocratic class, influential Malay bureaucrats and rich Malay businessman) can take full advantage of the present Government's policy.

These rich Malays are the groups who have the surplus money to apply for business licences, to bid for government contracts or to buy the shares held for the Malays, just to quote a few of them. Also, it is the influential (usually rich) Malays, who have the opportunity to obtain a place on the boards of public companies. The poor Malay peasants, fishermen and workers have not benefitted at all, though the relatively small number of their children who managed to pass their secondary school examinations, have obtained scholarships, university places and posts in the civil service.

However, the class bias of the present education system has benefitted disproportionately the rich Malays when comparing the actual numbers. According to the Murad Report of 1972, children from rich families enjoyed nine times higher chances of continuing their study beyond the age of 15, compared with poor families. Since most Government scholarships, college and university places, civil service and military posts are only given to those who have passed at least their lower secondary school examinations, it is clear that Malays from rich families received the full advantage of the Malay special privileges

Conclusion

From the above analysis, we observe that the policy of the government since independence is one that is unable to rectify the racial tensions or to redress racial inequality. The implementation of the NEP has created increased injustice among all rayes and further polarized the three races. The present policy of the Malaysian Government only serves to create a small, Malas middle-class, and converting a few half-millionaire Malays into a few millionaire Malays, All this is being done at the expense of other ethnic groups and the poor Malays. All these only increase the possibility of another racial blood-bath.